Edward Jordan

Edward Jordan was married to Edvidge Chatters Jordan for 69 years. They had seven children: Edward Jordan Jr., Kent Jordan, Christie Jordan Bibbins, Paul Jordan, Stephanie Jordan, Rachel Jordan and Marlon Jordan.

He was the youngest child of Leonard Jordan and Pauline Pete Jordan. His six older siblings were Mama Johnie, Adam, Yancy, Felton, Sammy and Paul, who died in infancy. Jordan died surrounded by his family, and his celebration of life was held at Gallier Hall in New Orleans.

Jordan grew up listening to zydeco and blues in Crowley, Louisiana, and learned saxophone at Ross High School from Warren Milson and Joseph Oger. After hearing Charlie Parker and Lester Young, he developed a strong interest in jazz improvisation. He continued his studies at Southern University in Baton Rouge under band director T. Leroy Davis and woodwind teachers John Banks and Huel Perkins.

While attending Southern, Jordan became a bandmate, Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brother and future brother-in-law of Alvin Batiste. He began his formal teaching career in 1955 at Bethune High School in Norco, Louisiana, after teaching at the William Houston School of Music in New Orleans's Faubourg Tremé. He later earned a master's degree in music from Millikin University and pursued postgraduate summer studies at Northwestern University.

After relocating to New Orleans in 1955, he played rhythm and blues with musicians including Guitar Slim, Ray Charles, Big Maybelle, Big Joe Turner, Chuck Willis and Choker Campbell. He also performed and recorded with artists such as Lena Horne, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, R.E.M., Art Neville, Aaron Neville and Cecil Taylor.

In 1975, Jordan founded the Improvisation Arts Quintet, which recorded a catalogue of free-flowing avant-garde music. His first recording, No Compromise, was made with Alvin Fielder, Clyde Kerr Jr., Kent Jordan, Elton Heron and London Branch.

Jordan maintained a productive musical relationship with drummer Alvin Fielder and bassist William Parker for three decades. With pianist Joel Futterman, they performed and recorded together. Jordan's work combined an interest in instinctive, interactive improvisation with the influence of New Orleans rhythm and blues.

His final album, Last Trane to New Orleans, was announced in 2020. His daughter Rachel produced the album, while his grandson Paul Sims produced and engineered it. The live recording was made at McDonogh 35 Senior High School in New Orleans.

The French government named Jordan a Knight, or Chevalier, of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1985. He received Offbeat magazine's first Lifetime Achievement Award for Music Education, and his contributions were documented on 60 Minutes.

Southern University at New Orleans honored him during its 2008 BASH III. He received a Lifetime Achievement Honoree recognition at Vision Festival XIII, was named a Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2013 and received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Loyola University New Orleans in 2017.

Jordan received a United States Artists Fellowship supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in 2021. On May 5, 2022, the New Orleans City Council proclaimed his birthday Edward "Kidd" Jordan Day in the City of New Orleans. He also received the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation Jazz Pioneer Award and the Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp award.